Sexy Shrimp Breeding Project

[Swim]

I've been tagging along here. I've got numerous "sexy shrimp" in some of the tanks here. They all (At least the original pair for sure.) came into my tanks as hitch hikers and I have seen them here and there for years. I don't currently have the time to culture food to rear young or try to breed them in ernest but I'm having great fun following you guys here. These shrimp are one of those animals that brings a smile to your face everytime you happen to (re)discover them. Wishing you good luck.

 

[jayelblock]

something like watching a pot waiting for it to boil

or perhaps like boiling a chicken and hoping for soup...

Swim--thanks for the kind wishes. I'm ready to get back into this project after having come so close to raising that last clutch. I've also decided to go a little bigger for my main tank and let the inverts have the 29g.

After years of tiny tanks, I shocked myself by purchasing a used 4x2x2 120g. Most of my fish will move over there when it's cycled and stable, and the inverts will be able to stretch out a bit in the 29. I hope to exercise some control from here on out and restrict the fish in the 29g to one or two sand sifters--probably the two spot goby that's already in there and a mate if I can find one--and the flaming prawn goby.

 

[R_Hudson]

Any new progress on the breeding? This thread is full of very good information, I've read thru it a few times now.

 

[jayelblock]

I believe I have 2 gravid females FINALLY. It's taken them 8 weeks to get their mojo back. One of the downsides of having moved all the sexies to the 29g is that it's much harder to observe them. The females tend to hide their rumps when they are gravid, and I can't observe them as closely as I could when they were in the aquapod 12. However, I have noticed some promising behaviors. Gravid females tend to "groom" their eggs. You can see them using their rear legs to massage and rearrange their eggs up under their tails, and I've noticed some of that going on. Can you tell that I am obsessed with sexy shrimp? I can watch them endlessly.

Hope to have good news soon!

 

[svitoizzy]

did any of your babies survive that time?

 

[jayelblock]

No survivors. I got within 5 or 6 days of having settled shrimp, but then had a series of disasters related to out-of-town trips I had to take for work. I am designing and building a more stable larval system that can survive a day or two without attention.

 

[poolkeeper1]

Way Cool, Good Luck in them staying alive. I have a mated pair and will get more after reading your thread. Very Interesting Info about these great little creatures.
Bill

 

[mike fail]

Just a thought for you to consider. Brine Napili will be to big for the larva I would suggest Rotifers and green water.

Here is a link http://www.reedmariculture.com/

I would call them they can give you the right food sources for your project. Once you get them past Meta you can switch to brine or other food sources. Everything I have read the your highest mortality rate will be right before meta. It all about the right food and good water save your tank water from water changes to change water in your grow out tank, air airline drip system will work for constant water water change if your grow out tank is not to large.

Good luck

 

[jayelblock]

Egg abortion

Egg abortion

Well, my troubles continue. This morning, one of my females chose to abort her eggs. At first I thought she was just grooming them, but after I saw her dragging them over the rocks, I was pretty certain she was no longer concerned with their survival.

I've watched my shrimp for years and have never seen this behavior, but I'm sure nature knows best...

Sorry for the crappy pics--i've just got a point-and-shoot camera

 

[Lytehouse]

Sorry Jay,

but you'll get it. You're determined and patient.

 

[jayelblock]

I've got a few other gravid females, so we'll see what happens. I wish I could figure out the problem. The shrimp themselves seem fine and happily engaging in typical shrimp behavior. I've also got a lot of gobies that end up on the difficult species list, and they are fine as well (two spot goby, rainford's). Even my tiny flaming prawn gobies are fine, as is every other invert in the tank. The stomatella snails have been spawning like mad and I have dozens. Anyone need some? I desperately need asterina stars for my bongo shrimp, and would be happy to trade...

 

[redneckgearhead]

Ive heard you can get a CC star and keep them in the sump (assuming you have one) and cut off a leg on occasion to feed the shrimp. The leg is supposed to grow back (not sure how fast) giving you a continuous food supply for the shrimp. And I think Scott at Oddballs has some on sale this weekend. Sorry to get you off topic. Ive just read this, I have no experience with it.

 

[jayelblock]

Thanks for the hint, but that only works for harlequin shrimp. Bongo shrimp require either aterina stars or mini/micro brittle stars. Scott very generously let me grab a few asterinas, and I've got mini-brittles coming on Wednesday, so all is well.

Now, back to your regularly scheduled programming...

 

[redneckgearhead]

Thanks for the hint, but that only works for harlequin shrimp. Bongo shrimp require either aterina stars or mini/micro brittle stars. Scott very generously let me grab a few asterinas, and I've got mini-brittles coming on Wednesday, so all is well.

Now, back to your regularly scheduled programming...

Good to know

 

[jayelblock]

Gorgeous shot. I would fill my tank with these guys if I had a reliable way to keep them fed. Just one small shrimp eats an extraordinary number of little stars.

To help with my sexy shrimp project I bought this larval trap:

I'm about two days from having a shrimp drop her eggs, so I'll catch my gravid female tomorrow and relocate her.